How will the Tekashi69 abduction case end? La La Anthony is in the news again, and guys are here for it! Is the U.S. stock market sending a message?

IS VICTOR CRUZ IN LOVE?

Former NFL football standout, Victor Cruz, recently expressed his love and appreciation for Karrueche Tran on social media, stating: “I’m a grown-ass man and still get butterflies every time I think about my lady. This love thing has no age bracket.”

JAY Z and WILL SMITH INVEST

While many people are focused on Jay Z becoming a partner with the NFL, he and Will Smith were among the companies that were part of a $25 million investment round for an Airbnb-like app called Hipcamp. According to the founders of the company, the app is designed for an inclusive community that values the environment, preservation, and the great outdoors.

TEKASHI69

Recently, the attorney for one of the defendants in the Tekashi69 kidnapping case dropped a bombshell! If you recall in July 2018, the rapper who also goes by the name of 6ix9ine was reportedly abducted, forced into a car, assaulted, and robbed of hundreds of thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry. But Deveraux Cannick, the lawyer of the man accused of the crime, Anthony "Harv" Ellison, said not so fast, as he told reporters that he intends to argue that the incident was staged. Keep an eye out on this case.

LA LA ANTHONY

It seems like you can always tell when La La Anthony and Carmelo Anthony are on the outs because girlfriend is setting those “thirst traps!”

SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS HANGS OUT WITH CARDI B

Grammy Award-winning rapper, Cardi B, is no stranger to voicing her concerns about government and politics, and her support of US Senator Bernie Sanders for US President. Cardi recently spoke with the senator in a Detroit nail salon about issues surrounding policing, student debt, and wages.

STOCK MARKET HAS SOME ON EDGE

The U.S. stock market has been acting a little jittery recently in reaction to impending recessions around the world and to Donald Trump’s erratic imposition of tariffs on China, the effects the tariffs are having on US farmers and Americans as a whole.

Alibaba-created Singles Day holiday generates more than $30 billion in sales in one day for the Chinese online platform

You think Black Friday shopping in the U.S. is huge? Yes, it is, but it pales in comparison to China's largest one-day shopping day, Singles Day, a day when single people in China get to celebrate their singleness. And, this year, on November 11, 2018, Singles Day sales reached $30 billion in one day on Alibaba’s platform. Yes, you read that right $30 billion with a “b”. By comparison, in 2017, online sales on the Black Friday weekend, which now starts on Thanksgiving and rolls right into Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, were approximately $20 billion, according to Adobe Analytics. It is important to note that the Black Friday weekend sales were across many retailers and not just one as in the case of Alibaba.

Alibaba, a company based in China, is described by many in the U.S., as the “Amazon” of China. However, Amazon more than likely aspires to have sales like Alibaba, but it’s not there yet. In 2018, Amazon says it had its largest Prime Day ever with Prime members purchasing more than 100 million products.

How does that translate into dollars, you ask? We don’t know exactly, as Amazon has not given that number. In Amazon’s press release announcing its 3Q2018 earnings report the company said, "Amazon's biggest global shopping event ever, welcoming more new Prime members on July 16th than any other previous day in Amazon history."

Although Amazon did not mention “Prime Day” in its 3Q2018 press release, the company did mention various “Prime” products and services at least 25 times in its release.

But Amazon being mum on the Prime Day sales number did not stop market research firms from providing their Amazon Prime Day sales estimates. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney told Reuters that Amazon probably made between $1.5 billion and $2 billion in revenue from this year’s Prime Day. Internet Retailer estimates sales hit $4.19 billion globally this year during the 36-hour sale July 16-17, up nearly 74% from $2.41 billion during last year’s Prime Day (a 30-hour sales event July 11-12, 2017). While, before Prime Day, the retail think tank Coresight Research predicted sales would reach $3.4 billion, about $1 billion more than last year.

When you think about the reported most popular Prime Day purchases in the United States being Instant Pots, personal water filters and the 23andMe DNA test, and total Prime Day sales being under, well let’s stretch it to $10 billion, and Black Friday Weekend in 2017 registering just under $20 billion, you can begin to see why American businesses have their eye on China.

As Amazon is an international company, its revenue on Prime Day comes from international markets as well. So what were the big categories internationally for Amazon? Well, various market research sources say the big products purchased by Amazon’s international customers on Amazon Prime Day were video games and consoles, smartphones, pans, light bulbs, and laundry detergent.

Now, this article is not meant to bash Amazon, Not in the least, it’s just an opportunity to focus on China’s consumer market and to help people to understand why U.S. businesses big and small want to get their products into China. Additionally, Amazon Prime Day is a big day for many small and mid-sized businesses. Amazon says that sales for its marketplace merchants far exceeded $1 billion, which is a big deal if you’re part of that group.

If you own a small to a mid-sized company selling your products to people and companies in China or, looking to sell into the China where $30 billion was spent with one company in one day, you probably know you can't expect to replicate Alibaba's success, as it is the hometown team. But you’re probably praying that the U.S.-China tariff negotiations are going well. No business wants to be on the outside looking in, particularly when a country has more people in the middle class than the United States has people.

Photo by mentatdgt from Pexels

If you are chomping at the bit to get your products into China, I understand. And for those who need a little bit of prodding, think about this.

Yesterday, November 11, or 11/11 was Singles Day in China (anti-Valentine's day or bachelors day). It is reportedly the world's largest, annual online shopping day, topping the U.S. Cyber Monday and Black Friday. Xiaomi, a Chinese mobile phone brand demonstrated how big a shopping day China's Singles Day really is. Xiaomi mobile phones eclipsed Apple, Samsung, and Lenova in one day.

By midday, Xiaomi had sold 720,000 phones, 250,000 of which being the flagship Mi4 smartphone, retailing for around $300.

Hugo Barra, the former Google executive in charge of Android and who now runs Xiaomi, posted on his Twitter account that Xiaomi sold 1.16 million Mi series mobile devices within a 24-hour period. At the end of the day, Xiaomi pulled in $254 million in total sales.

Wow!

It's time to get your China strategy in gear, and India, too, as Xiaomi is moving into India, the world's largest democratic country.